Thursday, November 13, 2008

Time to Feed the Geek

You Cannot Win

There's a phrase circulating on the internets (or at least in those dorkish areas that I frequent) called "feed the geek."

Feeding the geek is what happens when you stay at home all day Saturday to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy in succession, or when you stock up at your LCS* on all the trade paperbacks you've been waiting for and read them back to back to back with a bowl of pupcorn beside you on the bed. I feed the geek every morning when I log onto Newsarama and Comic Book Resources and when I watch videos about my favorite creators or find myself salivating over Blair Butler and her weekly comic book video blog from the G4 network.

I might be mistaken, but I am pretty sure my inner geekiness isn't immediately apparent. Even some of my rather close friends would (I suspect) be quite surprised to learn how much I love perusing the isles and isles of comics stacked on high. I mean, I'm not this guy but still... we could be cousins.Apologies to Napoleon Dynamite

One of my favorite dates is to walk to Anna's Taquiera for a chicken burrito with black beans and rice, a little bit of salsa, light on the hots and saunter straight over to the comics shop. I would while away my afternoons completely immersed in alternate universes. Invincible is a stand-by favorite (I suspect the cute girl at the Kenmore comic shop doesn't like Invincible beacuse I always get the feeling she's judging my selection when I bring it up to the counter. You're right. She probably loves Manga.) I cried at the end of Y The Last Man. I loved Girls by the Luna Brothers so much and I got so emotionally invested in the story line that I told Matthew I was considering drawing an alternate storyline about it. You can read the first issue of Girls free here (GIRLS!) but basically the story is about a town trapped in bubble with naked homicidal girls that hatch out of eggs and try to murder all the women while procreating as much as they can with the men.

Sound like a virginal comic kids wet dream? You bet it is. So what is an almost 28 year old lesbian doing reading this shit? Well, I have one answer for you:

Because it's good!

I got my geek face on.

Comics are a near-perfect form of entertainment. When they are done well they tell engaging stories, incorporate beautiful sometimes breathtaking art, they reach a wide audience and they are a hell of a lot cheaper to make than movies. But mostly - the stories they tell are GOOD. And the people who make them are fun and creative and awesome.

As many of you may know, I have a birthday coming up. And comic books make a great gift. Not just for me but for any of you who have kids. The holidays they are-a-coming. The good news: Comic books inspire creativity in all children. Hand over an issue of Spiderman or Invincible with paper and some crayons and I guarantee that child will be drawing before they read the last page. Single issues retail at about $3 each or you can buy the trade (comic talk for a complete storyline) for about $10-$14. With our economy in the toilet (or as Rachel Maddow said today past the toilet and on it's way to the septic tank) people aren't buying comics anymore and those really talented, creative people could lose their livlihood.

Mouseguard!

You like HEROES the show? Buy HEREOS the comic book.Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? That started as a comic book. So did The Tick.Hellboy? Hell yeah. There's a gorgeous art book out from the movie 300 -- you know the one about the Spartans I still haven't seen. Great coffee table reading.

4 comments:

That hot girl at the kenmore comic shop most certainly does not like manga. She complemented me on my choice of gipi's Garage Band and Notes for a War Story which are gorgeous and literary graphic novels.

Don't hate on the girl because you are too much of a weenie to say more to her than, "Uh. No, I don't need a bag. Uh. Thanks."